Verbatim (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Chapter Seven

Kakashi Hatake was buzzing with excitement, the third book of Verbatim resting in his back pocket. The book had just come out, which was an instant mood-booster, but he found his smile growing even more when he noticed whose apartment he happened to be walking by.

Iruka Umino lived in a small, peaceful complex that was a lot like Kakashi's. The windows of every unit were facing the street, so Iruka's was easily seen, and also easily identifiable due to the soft, white curtains that usually covered the glass. For once, they were pulled back, the window that they were usually in front of clear and able to be seen through. Kakashi could see that the window was open, too, but it was a couple of stories up, so he couldn't see into the room. Knowing that he needed to stop by Iruka's anyways, he simply scaled the building, getting to Iruka's window and quietly sitting in the sill.

It was a habit of his that was usually silly and harmless- it was funny when people scolded him for lack of manners, or even when he got a good jumpscare in, but he found that he immediately regretted not going to the door like a civilized member of society when he saw that he'd popped in on Iruka getting dressed.

Somehow, the brunette hadn't noticed him, and Kakashi debated on simply leaving, but he was afraid that he would make some sort of noise and alert Iruka of his presence on the way out. Thankfully, Iruka at least had boxers on. Kakashi's gaze lingered on the younger man's back; tan, extremely scarred, toned. Iruka's long, brown hair fell over his shoulders, and Kakashi blinked as he remembered that he'd never actually seen Iruka with his hair down before this. The muscles in his arms and shoulder shifted underneath his taut skin as he slipped on his pants, and the silver-haired man was questioning how he was going to dip or let Iruka know that he was there.

He figured he would act casual, as to not hint to his crush. So, when Iruka picked up his shirt to put on, Kakashi cleared his throat to make his presence known.

"Good morning, Sensei!" Kakashi laughed, and Iruka turned to face him so fast that he almost got whiplash from it, clutching his shirt to cover his chest and stomach.

"Kakashi!" Iruka exclaimed, face burning bright red. "Um, do you need something?"

"Just wanted to talk." Kakashi shrugged, and Iruka offered a nervous chuckle in return.

"Think you could give me a sec to finish changing?" Iruka asked, averting his gaze. "I-I don't really like people seeing me like this."

"Oh, okay, I'll meet you at your door?"

"Sure." Iruka nodded, and with that, Kakashi scaled back down the building before getting to the ground and climbing up the stairs of the complex. When he reached Iruka's door, he stood there for a moment, waiting for the younger man to answer. When the shorter man finally did open the door and greet him, Kakashi grinned under his mask.

"Iruka! It's been so long since I've seen you," Kakashi joked and took in the appearance of the younger man. The brunette was only wearing his pants and a long-sleeved undershirt, his headband not even present on his forehead. His hair was up in a messy bun rather than in its usual neat ponytail- probably a style he'd done really quick so he could rush to answer the door for Kakashi.

"Haha, yeah..." Iruka laughed, opening the door for Kakashi to come in, which he did. The brunette shut the door before walking into the kitchen, Kakashi following behind him. "Anyways, what did you need to talk about?" The younger man asked, walking over to the stove, where he seemed to have some tea on the kettle. Kakashi smiled, leaning back against the counter. If it weren't for the context of their relationship, he'd almost think that the scene domestic.

Iruka turned the stove off and reached up into the cabinet, grabbing a couple of mugs and setting them down next to the tea kettle. When Kakashi spoke again, Iruka seemed to nearly jump at his words, the sirene smile he'd been wearing seconds before being replaced by an expression of slight surprise.

"Nothing in particular," Kakashi lied- he'd had something to talk about, he'd just panicked and forgotten what it was when Iruka looked over at him with those gorgeous brown eyes, so he was going to play the casually weird personality card that he usually played when he didn't want Iruka to overanalyze his slipups and find out about his feelings. "But is it just me, or did you seem jumpy today? You've been off recently."

"Is that so? My apologies, then," Iruka stared down at the stove, picking up the teakettle and pouring the hot liquid into both of the cups that he'd grabbed. "It must be stress," He set the kettle down and picked both cups up, walking over to where Kakashi was standing and holding one of them out for the older man. "Tea?"

"Sure." He took the cup, and Iruka stood next to him, both of them leaning their backs against the counter and sipping from their drinks. The tea was hot, definitely something herbal and somewhat sweet and earthy. "Sorry about popping up in your window, by the way. I didn't know that you would be... Changing, and I didn't know that you would be so bashful about it either."

"Don't worry about it, just try to catch me at a better time or show up at my doorstep."

They both paused for a moment, neither of them saying anything until Kakashi noticed an open notebook laying on the counter. Kakashi raised his eyebrows, looking over at it.

"Oh? What's that?"

"Ah! Um, nothing, just, uh..." Almost as quickly as he'd rushed to answer, Iruka took the notebook into one hand and shut it, pushing it into one of the kitchen drawers with a sheepish smile and a small blush. Was it a diary or something? "Lesson plans."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're being so protective of those so very important lesson plans. Anyways, I did have something I wanted to ask you," After having calmed down and recovered from the fact that he'd seen Iruka with hardly any clothes on, Kakashi remembered what he'd went there for in the first place- Guy had wanted him to invite Iruka to the local bar where they'd be hanging out with a few of their friends the next day. "We're all meeting up at the bar tomorrow, and I wanted to know if you'd like to tag along?"

"Who's we?" Iruka asked, tilting his head.

"Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Izumo, Kotetsu, Guy... Maybe Anko if you wanna invite her too, I figured you could extend the invitation to her since you two are, y'know," Kakashi muttered, knowing that Iruka and Anko had always been best friends.

"We're what? Oh! No, we aren't. People make that assumption a lot, but we're just good friends. Neither of us are straight anyways."

Well, that was good information. Kakashi had meant to imply that Anko and Iruka were close rather than dating, but if he got a hint about Iruka's sexuality, he figured that worked, too.

"Ah, that makes sense. I should probably go see what Tsunade wanted since she called me a few hours ago, but I'll see you tomorrow." Kakashi finished his tea, setting the cup down on the counter. "I know you're a bit bothered by me entering through windows, but do you mind if I exit through one?"

"Heh," Iruka grinned, looking down into his teacup with a soft gaze. "Go ahead."